Alexandra Quick and the Mysteries of Gran Bolivia
by Rhydeble
Summary: Following the suggestion of her father's new squeeze, Alexandra Quick decides to go somewhere exotic for her fifth year of magical schooling, and ends up in the South American magical nation of Gran Colombia. In the meantime, Maria Valiente has given herself a new mission, to figure out what's up with this new transfer student, and whether or not some sort of child-soldier-spy.
1. Gran Colombia

Alexandra had never been on a plane before, let alone on an international flight, so she was kind of nervous about it, especially since Charlie would be in the pet compartment. She disagreed, knowing that he would be able to find his way there, but Julia had convinced her to keep the bird close by, given that he'd never been that far away from home.

Looking out of the window, she saw the landscape of North America go by beneath her, a place that she wouldn't see back for… quite a while. When she'd accepted Medea's suggestion, she wasn't sure what she'd expected, but… she looked to the other side, where Claudia was working on a crossword, and Archie was busy reading a book.

Claudia hated the magical world, and Archie knew very little about it, and showed even less interest than her sister. Still, the two of them had decided they'd join her on this trip, and help her get settled in at the _Bolivar Academy for young Witches and Wizards,_ Gran Colombia's premier institution of magical learning. Hidden deep in a valley somewhere in the Andes, according to the leaflet it boasted over a thousand students in total, as well as providing secondary magical education in a variety of topics. Apparently, the school had teams for many different sports, such as Quidditch, Wizarding chess, Quodpot and Soccer, and serviced students from around the world. There was some stuff about what kind of prizes the teachers had won, and how all the students went on to do great things, but what had caught Alexandra's attention the most was they also offered classes in topics that were awfully neglected at Charmbridge, such as familiar communication, wandless magic and something called the animagus program.

Less attractive to her was the uniform. Unlike Charmbridge, which in retrospect had been relatively lenient, the Academy had a strict policy on clothes, which included a mandatory skirt for female students, as well as a pointed hat that looked like it came straight out of a muggle storybook.

"I'm sure it will be fine Alex," Claudia said, with a worried look on her face.

"I just know I'm going to miss my friends," Alex replied, looking back through the window again. Owls were reliable, but they still found intercontinental journeys difficult. She'd heard there were solutions to this, like a company that turned wizarding messages into emails, then back into letters again on the other side of the world, but it all just made things much more difficult.

"I'd worry more about your Spanish," Archie remarked.

"I'm sure they can help you out with that," Claudia said as she put a hand on Alex's knee. "You're smart, you'll learn the language in no time at all, and I bet quite a few of the kids there know some English."

Archie just made a smart remark in Spanish that Alex couldn't quite make out, and Claudia chuckled in response. She wasn't even sure if her brother-in-law's Spanish was as good as he claimed it was, but didn't know enough of the language to call him out.

She looked back into the sky, wondering if those other planes in the distance carried her friends. Anna would be going towards Charmbridge right about now, arriving before the rest of the students because she had to come all the way from California. Would she get a new roommate? Some student from one of the schools that her father had destroyed? Further below, she saw the North American landscape, the roadways and cities, and more importantly, the Ley lines that criss crossed them. It wasn't quite the same as it had been back in the cave, but the plane gave her a great deal of perspective, showing her the scale of the structure, how small lines joined together into massive networks that crossed multiple states, and how those in turn joined on a scale she'd need a space-shuttle to understand.

She sighed, turning back to the leaflet, trying to learn as much as she could, and look for some sort of distraction.

Archie Green hadn't been quite sure what to expect of this entire trip. He did, however, know that this wasn't it.

First of all, if his step-daughter (Half-sister-in-law?) was supposed to be going to school in Colombia, why did they fly to Peru? And second, why hadn't they gone with some sort of magical airplane, or some such contraption? Were airplanes just better than what magic could do? And if so, what did that say about the capacities of magic itself?

A thousand questions raced through his mind, and a thousand questions he pushed back again, to the same place he'd always pushed them. He didn't know how magic worked, whether these foreigners could be trusted or how the wizards in America would react. He didn't know if this was the right decision, or if Alex would get a good education here, or whether that education would be more useful than going to a normal high-school. But he didn't need to know any of those things, because he knew something that was more important than all of that combined.

Archie Green knew that he loved his wife. Unconditionally. Starting from that first day they'd met, he'd fallen head over heels, and knew she was the one for him.

He knew she had her secrets, that there were things about her past she didn't want to share. But he loved her, and he hated seeing her in pain, so he didn't ask. If and when Claudia wanted to talk about it, they'd talk about it. No sooner. He'd wondered, of course, about her family, some of the strange little quirks she had when they talked about old TV shows and such. He'd wondered more when Alex started doing strange things. But he didn't ask, because he knew Claudia didn't want to talk.

Once, he knew, he'd had a chance. Shortly before the wedding, late at night, just outside of town, he'd been accosted by a middle-aged man with black hair and a full beard. They'd talked for a few minutes, the man bringing up words that, in retrospect, weren't as nonsensical as he'd thought they'd been back then. Some angry words later, and the strange figure had disappeared, saying something about keeping his daughter safe.

Abraham Thorn, he now knew. Perhaps he shouldn't have pulled his gun on the man. On the other hand, he had a suspicion that the man had actually respected that part of their meeting.

With all that in mind, he looked around carefully as they made their way through immigration. From the letter, someone would be waiting for them at the airport, so he watched out for people with broomsticks, or warty noses, or anything else stereotypical he could think of. Mostly, he followed Alex's gaze to see if she'd spotted something.

He felt a certain amount of disappointment when Claudia poked him in the side, pointing at a perfectly normal man in a perfectly normal suit, holding a perfectly normal sign saying '_Green Family._'

Too normal, perhaps.

Introductions were short, and before he knew it, they'd been shuffled into a small cab that, on the inside, looked somewhat more like a limousine. He and Claudia had been given some sort of strange-looking necklace, which Alexandra said had something to do with Anti-Muggle charms. Only barely knowing what a Muggle was (they meant him) he'd simply nodded, put it on, and watched in hidden amazement as the car's interior expanded before his eyes.

Less than fifteen minutes, they'd arrived in the center of town, at a place called the Peru Portkey Authority, where apparently they'd have to split up. One of the people from the local government, a well-meaning young woman that reminded him of Claudia when she was talking to a very young patient, had explained that there was someone from some sort of Wizard UN or something that'd wanted to talk to Claudia, while Alexandra would go to her new school, which apparently had some sort of rule about taking the scenic route.

When the conversation came to something called a portkey, he looked at Claudia, then shot a questioning look at his stepdaughter. The girl nodded, suggesting she'd be fine, so he decided to trust her, and held his wife's arm. Alexandra had grown up, these past few years. Not entirely, not too much, but somewhat. Someday, if she didn't get herself killed, she could be a capable young woman, though perhaps not an overly reliable one.

Archie followed his wife, as they were led into a room containing cupboards filled with what were surely ancient Incan artefacts, the handles of the object looking well-worn and well-used.

This was going to get weird.

Llarry, Alex had decided, was a lot more agreeable than his namesake. Sure, he was a nasty and aggressive beast that would spit magical venom at everything and everyone that looked at him the wrong way, but besides that, the Llama was altogether more agreeable than mister Albo had ever been. Plus, he was great at climbing a seemingly impossible mountain, though she was sure there was magic involved there.

Sure, her guide llama wasn't as obviously enchanted as the flying mules back in the Ozarks, but she was certain normal animals couldn't scale eighty degree angles with people on their back, and especially not in the way her beast was doing it, which was by just ignoring gravity altogether, It reminded her of some videos she'd seen online, of games with less than spectacular programming.

Charlie was having fun, exploring the wild terrain in a wide-sweeping flight, checking nooks and crannies, and getting a taste of all the new scents he'd be able to discover here.

"How much further?" she asked, wiping sweat from her brow as she looked up to her guide, a calm-looking man with a wide-brimmed hat protecting him from the sun, and a colour-changing poncho.

"Not too far," the man replied tersely, taking a look at the sky above them. He hadn't said much, and he had a bit of an accent, so his English probably wasn't very good. But he'd also been smiling when she'd tried talking to him before.

She looked back, at the endless valleys deep in the Andes. They'd left the last muggle houses behind them a while ago, and they only seemed to be traveling further and further into the wilderness. If it wasn't for the well-worn path their mounts were following, or the fact that they had magic to help them out, she wasn't sure how to know whether or not they'd gotten lost.

Larry kept climbing, even as they reached a thicker and thicker layer of snow, and eventually ascended into the clouds themselves, which now blanketed everything in a thick mist. Charlie landed on the saddle in front of her, and she held a cloaked arm over him, sharing some of her warmth with the small bird. She couldn't even see her guide anymore, only hearing the soft footsteps of the llama in front of them. It didn't seem to bother Llarry though, who calmly trotted on as Alexandra felt the enchantments they were passing through.

Some she recognized. Things to repel muggles, and charms and wards much like those that Charmbridge had had. Others reminded her of Wizarding spaces, larger on the inside. Even more, she couldn't place beyond vague relations to different schools of magic, some of them reminding her of the Brazier the Mors Mortis Society had used. _Was there going to be more of that?_

As she passed through the thick mist, even the ground hidden from view now, she noticed that Llarry seemed to be fine with this turn of events, simply trotting through as she was reminded of her travels through the Lands Beyond, though everything was white here, and it wasn't nearly as harrowing.

After what could have been either a few minutes, or several hours, she felt something shift. The clouds began to recede, and within seconds, the impenetrably thick layer of white on everything gave way, showing first her feet, and then a large valley, hidden on all sides by steep mountains, and covered in a very thick blanket of clouds.

The valley itself was several miles in length, and a bit less than a mile across, and a small river ran through it, disappearing into the rocks on one side of the valley. The floor of the valley itself was somewhat divided. On the side where the river disappeared stood a small town, with large white houses with red roofs, laid around in a hodgepodge manner on top of the ruins of something much older. Busy streets ran through this area, and from her vantage point up top, she could see Wizards and Witches, Goblins, Granians, Llamas and other creatures, running around in a way that reminded her of the Goblin Market, back in Chicago.

Then, towards the other side of the valley, closer to the lookout ledge on which Llarry was walking right now, there was a relatively spaced out campus, surrounding a large tiered pyramid she thought was called a Ziggurat, with a large staircase on which she could see people walking. Several buildings surrounded it, loosely spaced, including what sort of looked like a Quidditch field, if you squinted right. "Is that the Academy?" she asked, but as no-one replied, she noticed that the Llama in front of her was now missing its rider, only carrying some of her luggage.

Charlie cawed, looking down towards the buildings in the valley, then took off again. "Be careful Charlie!" Alex yelled after him as she tried to figure out where her guide had gone. She hadn't heard or felt any magical creatures, so the guide probably hadn't gotten killed by a South-American Hodag. Were they playing some prank on the foreign girl?

Llarry walked on, eventually stopping in front of a small hut, of a type which she could see huddled against the mountain walls, in all the nooks and crannies where they could fit. She dismounted, holding a hand out for Charlie, who returned to her, eyeing the little hut with suspicion as she walked in through the half-open doorway. There were no lights, except for two small square windows besides the door, yet the insides were well-lit, and larger than the outside looked. There was a table, with a plate and a selection of food that still looked warm, and there were a few benches set around the outside. As she investigated the dining table, she noticed a letter, as well as a neatly outlayed set of clothes in yellow, red and blue, not quite like the wizarding styles of the Confederation, but obviously not of Muggle design either. She sat down and opened the letter, as freshly cooked food wafted its scent into her face.

_Dear Ms. Quick._

_As Dean of Bolivar Academy, it is both my duty and my honor to welcome you to the city of Paititi, and the Academy that lies within. Sadly, my duties preclude me from welcoming you personally, the start of the school year is always a busy time._

_It is well known to us that the trek here is long and arduous, so please take some care to eat and refresh yourself in this waystation. Once you are done, your steed will show you towards the dormitory building, where you will find your assigned rooms on the fifth floor, to be identified by the nameplates. From there, I am certain your fellow students will be happy to help you get settled in._

_Furthermore, I also wish to inform you of some major cultural differences between our fine nation and Gran Colombia, and things to watch out for. First, there is the amulet, which you will find with your new uniform. It contains an advanced translation charm, that will allow you to properly communicate with people, though I advise you to practice your Spanish nonetheless.. Second, Gran Colombian culture is much more egalitarian than you may be used to. As such, I feel obliged to inform you that there are strict rules against heritage-based discrimination, both between witches and wizards, as well as against non-human beings and creatures. All sapient beings have rights under Gran Colombian laws. Third, there is the issue of the uniform. Unlike at your alma mater, students of Bolivar Academy are free to explore, including in the wizarding city of Paititi. However, I must inform you that you are strictly obligated to wear your entire uniform __**at all times**__, excepting when you are on the fifth floor of your dorm building, or during sports activities, when you will be provided with a different set of clothes to wear. It follows from this that you are expected to proceed further after a change of clothes._

_Understand that this is not simply a rule set to enforce order, but rather one that your own safety is reliant upon. Because of this policy, we are able to allow our students a large degree of independence while ensuring their safety. And while we as faculty understand that all teenagers can and should chafe at the restrictions placed upon them by adults, it is this rule that is more important than all others._

_In this envelope you will also find your class schedule, based upon the closest possible approximation of your completed courses at Charmbridge Academy. Please see your assigned study councilor for possible changes to this schedule. Because of the ad-hoc nature of your enrollment, you will be two weeks behind the other students, though I am informed that this should not be an obstacle given your previous academic achievements._

_As for out-of-school electives, I am afraid that we do not have a JROC program or equivalent at Bolivar Academy, but many other out-of-school programs are available._

_I look forward to seeing you at Bolivar Academy, and hope that you will enjoy your time here._

_Regards, Dean H. C. de la Cruz._

Alexandra looked up from the letter, and shovelled her plate full of food, which was quite reminiscent of the elf-made banquets back at Charmbridge, then gave it another read. The second part especially was quite interesting, and she wondered what was up with the uniform. A quick look with her witches' sight showed a few minor charms for sturdyness, comfort and warmth, but nothing that matched with the rather insistent nature of the Dean's letter. It couldn't be that bad to go out without the uniform if it didn't have any major enchantments on it. SHe gave it a proper look, trying to figure out which of the pieces went where.

Easiest was the yellowish hat, which fit neatly on top of her head. It had a relatively wide brim, and a point that stood upwards, though it wasn't as large as some of the black ones she'd seen on Old Colonials. Besides that, there was a blue dress, a red piece of cloth that looked to be somewhere between a poncho, a jacket and a shawl, and a pair of long socks and enchanted gloves that went up to her elbows, both in the same yellow colour. Though there was a note that the gloves were optional, and intended to stave off the cold.

"You go keep watch Charlie," she told her raven as she looked around for something a bit more private, then decided to conjure two curtains on the windows, and casting a locking charm on the door to keep out any peeping toms. Several minutes of struggle later, she stepped out of the small hut in her new uniform, ducking to make sure her hat didn't hit the frame of the door.

"Pretty bird!" Charlie remarked from the roof of the little hut, though she couldn't quite agree. The outfit looked rather silly in her eyes, and if she hadn't just visited the Ozarks, she would have hated the long skirts of the dress even more than she already did. It was warm at least, and she wouldn't look so out of place if everyone wore the same thing, but she wasn't a fan.

Llarry approached as the animal saw her, together with the rest of the pack animals, and Alexandra pulled herself onto the animal, and struggled for a few seconds with her new long, full skirts. There seemed to be some sort of enchantment on them that kept her from properly hiking them up so she could ride, seemingly adding more cloth around her legs the more she pulled them upwards, like a clown at a muggle birthday party. After some messing about, she managed to simply force one leg over the top of the Llama, and found that the skirts automatically fell into place around her. At least she would be protected from people like Torvald and Stuart with strategically placed wind charms.

As she sat down, Llarrry took off further down the path, moving towards the city down below.


	2. Roommates

The message on the notepad was equally short and terrifying, and worst of all, for once, Maria had no idea why it had been sent out.

_Miss Valiente to the dean's office at 10:00_

But why? She hadn't done anything wrong yet. Was he just going to punish her proactively this year?

"So, what'd you do this time?" Rosa asked, looking at her over the top of a large bowl of sparkling cereals. Enchanted sugary confections, to make a dull and unjust world look bright. Her hair was dark and curly, and Maria was pretty sure she'd used some sort of potion to enhance both volume and length, though she didn't know what kind.

"Nothing, but that never stopped a tyrannical regime from stomping down on revolutionaries," Maria joked back, her mind filled with images of the dean, with a new mustache, commanding armies of marching clockworks.

"Just make sure they don't send you to the fricking rat room, we've got a MatheMagics test this afternoon, remember?"

"Wait, seriously?" Maria asked, feigning panic.

"Again Maria?" Alicia asked, looking at her through the thick magical glasses she'd been using to read her book. It didn't really fit the punk look her classmate tried to go for, but then again, neither did her school uniform.

"I mean, it's not like you _need_ to study for double-M," she replied. "It's just numbers, most of it is pretty much self-evident."

"Don't be so reckless!" Rosa said angrily. "You never know what could be on the test, maybe it's something you don't already know!"

"Is there? I mean, you've studied for it, right?"

"Well no, but still…"

"Just relax, kay? Old fart Donaldson gives you like three retakes a semester, I'll worry about the tests after I've failed them!" Maria said chipperly, eyes scanning the breakfast table. She'd need to prepare for her visit with the Dean—make sure she was well and properly fed—but she couldn't find anything with garlic, and Tuesday wasn't Muggle-day, so there wasn't any peanut-butter either. More proof of the school's totalitarian regime, in which there was no place for Muggle products outside of Muggle Mondays. She'd need to do something about that once she became la presidenta of the student council.

"Well, I'm off to Quodpot practice," Rosa said, calmly putting down her spoon in a bowl that was only half-empty.

"What, Quidditch not interesting anymore?" Alicia asked.

"More like Felipe not interesting anymore," Maria mumbled as her friend walked off, wondering which guy, or maybe girl—Rosa wasn't picky about that—had caught the girl's interest now.

"Well, I'm off to the library then," Alicia said, picking up the large enchanted glasses she used for the thick tome she was reading. Maria tried checking the title, but as she'd expected, it was in some foreign tongue she didn't recognize, probably Russian given the lettering.

"Sure, I'll face the dean all on my own then," she complained to no one in particular. Not like she hadn't done so before. Sure, the man had seemed scary when she was a little girl, but she'd been in his office often enough that his little tricks didn't really work on her anymore, and they'd build up a working relationship of sorts. Plus, it wasn't like she'd be suspended this early in the year, especially since her parents weren't in the country. And besides, she'd done nothing wrong, at least that the man could know about.

Dean de la Cruz's office was located at the most impressive part of Bolivar Academy. The central building, a large tiered pyramid containing most of the offices and classrooms, had a large set of stairs on the outside, though people usually just used the elevators inside. Maria, however, needed to use the stairs, because she needed to go to the office at the very top. Once, long ago, it had probably been the office of the head priest of the local religion, a terrifying figure ruling as a god-king over Wizard and Muggle alike. Now, things had gotten worse, and it was inhabited by a man whose mere mention could make your average teenager's legs go weak.

Not Maria, however. Sure, the man looked stern and had muscles that could strangle a fullgrown Granian, but the trick was to figure out that sure, the man looked like he could enter the hospital with several burst veins at any moment, but that was just because he tried really hard to hide his amusement at the shenanigans his students kept pulling. Sure, he might yell if you got lippy, but she knew he could appreciate sarcasm.

She looked at the large stone door, the massive face carved into it stared right back at her, the massive eyebrows curved into a sharp sneer.

"Name and purpose?" the stone face grumbled.

She took a moment to swallow the lump in her throat, then answered. "Maria Valiente, here to report to the Dean's office."

The massive door unfolded, rotating itself away like the opening iris of an eye somehow, and Maria stepped into the antechamber of death. Within, a large wooden desk stood on a floor covered in rich carpet, and a hundred eyes stared from paintings hanging from the wall. Most of them were of severe-looking women with large spectacles, and their hair an incredibly tight bun. They were dressed in the fashions of the last two-hundred years or so, and if it wasn't for a change in eye and hair colour every now and then, they could've been the same person. Their leader—a dangerous looking but lean woman with grey hair tied tightly back—stared her down from behind the massive desk. She had a magical typewriter in front of her, modified to accept rolled parchment instead of the white paper that was so prevalent in muggle society.

"Miss Valiente," the secretary—Maria had no idea what her name was, and was quite certain the woman took joy in the fact that no-one did— said. Her voice was like nails on a cursed chalkboard, mixed with the howling of a particularly irate cat, and even the friendliest words from her just cut straight to your soul.

"Yes Ma'am, I was told to report here Ma'am," she replied, standing as neatly as she could, feet right next to each other, her hands covering each other. Was her uniform alright? Or would she get punished for missing a button somewhere, or some new sock-related subregulation she'd forgotten about?

The secretary looked down at the typewriter and clicked a few buttons, and the parchment started zooming around, scrolling downward through the typewriter and eventually settling on a specific part that, presumably, contained the text that the secretary had just searched for.

"Yes, I see," the woman mumbled to herself, pursing her lips. "Something about the report you turned in for your Ethics class.

Maria stood as still as she could, trying not to fidget where the creature—for no human could be this terrifying—could see it.

"Guilty conscience, Miss Valiente?" the secretary asked.

"No Ma'am," she gulped, trying to figure out what the problem had been. She'd written it over the summer holidays, when she'd been visiting her older sister and her new husband, and most if it had been typed on one of those electrical typewriters rather than written with a quill, but she'd made sure the project hadn't specifically called for parchment. Was it something else? Sure, Julio had helped out a little, but you couldn't call it cheating if the help came from a Muggle, right? Not when it came to magical ethics. In fact, she should get bonus grades for the multicultural nature of her project.

"You may enter," the secretary eventually said, as she begrudgingly pulled some sort of lever beneath her desk that unlocked a large mahogany door to the side of her workspace. Maria stepped through, and entered the Dean's office.

"Ah, young Maria, good to see you," a voice greeted her, and she turned to see a large, well-build man that was messing about with some sort of mechanical contraption, consisting of a combination of gears, glasswork and several brightly coloured and bubbling liquids. He was wearing what she could only describe as Cowboy Chic, the kind of clothes that the revolutionary horse riders of the past would've worn if they'd been incredibly rich and secluded in their office all day. His hair was short and waxed back, and his face was, for once, clean shaven.

"Yes Mister de la Cruz," she replied, shuffling far enough into the office that the door closed behind her, a stone mechanism falling shut as it did so, providing a barrier between her and the creature outside.

"I've read your paper of course," he said, walking to his desk as he motioned to the carpet before it, where a small well-worn circle marked over a hundred years of nervous children awaiting punishment.

She just nodded as she stood in place, before taking a chance. "I hope you've read the ink as well?" she asked.

The man smiled, not even pretending to hide it. "Watch your mouth girl, I could have you shoveling Granian dung until Hallow's eve if I wanted."

"Yes sir," she smiled back, knowing that he wouldn't do that to his beloved horses.

"Quite well-researched, if I say so. Given the formatting, I presume you used the spider thing for some of it?"

She nodded, wondering what in Merlin's name he was talking about "Yes sir."

"Amazing, the things they can do, isn't it? I keep wondering why we don't have an equivalent. Anyway, while you had the facts correct, I must admit I found your argument rather lacking in rigor, and I believe you must have learned quite a few new words over the summer, did you not?" the man asked.

"My cuñado helped out a bit," she admitted. "But I did all the research myself!"

"And wrote the general line of argument, I presume," the man said. "Now, there's nothing wrong with asking experts for help. I do it all the time. For example, I get naughty rule-breaking girls to help out with my lawn. But next time, make sure to actually credit the guy if he helps out."

"Yes sir," she replied.

"Anyway, on to more important business. I've assigned you a new roommate, try not to get chased out by her."

"Sir?" she asked, trying to figure out if the man was being sarcastic. The problem had never been that _she'd_ wanted to change rooms.

"Oh, and her Spanish isn't great, so you should probably help her out on that front," the dean continued, standing up from his desk again as he paced through the room. "That or, you know, I could give you the toddler detail again."

She just nodded again, flashbacks racing through her head. Toddler detail, AKA having to watch the kids of staff members and visitors and such, involved a whole lot of not losing control while a horde of screaming shitmachines subconsciously used magic to escape even the tightest of toddler-cages. She'd only been forced into it once, and both she and the witch in charge had decided that once was enough.

"Yes sir," she eventually said. "Anything else sir?"

The man stopped for a second, obviously racking his brain for more torments to visit upon her. "I suppose there's some minor faults with your uniform somewhere, you mind berating yourself about it for me?"

Done with what was, quite honestly, the easiest test so far this year, Maria entered her private room only to find a young stranger already there. The girl—White, with short and straight black hair, green eyes, and a tall but not lanky look to her— had her wand out, and was busy messing with Maria's stuff, throwing it across the room without regard.

Well, there was really only one way to deal with invaders, Maria thought. She took out her wand, looked around to make sure there didn't happen to be a teacher—or some other kind of slightly more responsible person—around, and fired off a jinx.

Her quick, sharp "Tarantallegro!" hit the mark, and before she could do anything, the white girl's legs started moving like she'd just arrived here from the small town of Bomont. Sadly, that didn't turn out to be enough, because less than a second later, Maria had to duck behind the doorframe to dodge a counterjinx.

Well, that was something she couldn't take as anything but a challenge. With a skip in her step, she dashed through the doorway, launching herself into the air towards the bed she knew was there, and flung several minor jinxes and hexes through the air, hoping that more of hers would hit than those of her new enemy.

It mostly worked, though the bed that had—except for a few large soft piles of clothes—been empty for almost two years now, has suddenly contained what felt like a large and sturdy block of metal—probably a cauldron—that knocked the wind out of her.

Not good, because without air, you couldn't hex'em, and while her opponent's legs were dancing like an idiot, she'd skillfully countered most of what Maria had thrown at her. That, or she'd just missed all of them in her mad dash, odds were about fifty fifty.

A flurry of spells launched towards her, and as she reoriented herself, she decided to forego defense and just return the favor. Soon, the room was filled with more chaos than it usually was, and feathers and fluff that was usually confined to pillows and mattresses flew through the room. Spells bouncing off and going in all kinds of directions, though mostly staying contained within the room.

After what felt like hours, but could only have been a minute or so, their haphazard duel was at an end, both of them jinxed halfway to El Dorado. Not a great showing, especially not for a first fight, but the girl could defend herself, which Maria respected.


	3. Bolivar Academy

Alex stared at the maniac that was currently hanging upside down from the ceiling, suspended by her legs and—she had to admit this was impressive—still wearing her hat.

"Are you insane?" she asked, with a slight feeling of surprise as she felt her words changing somewhere halfway down her throat, and distinctly recognized the word loco coming from her lips.

"No, I'm Maria," she replied, with a goofy grin on her face. If Alex had to make a comparison right now, well, she couldn't quite think of anyone more different from Anna. In a way, the crazy girl suspended in the air before her kind of reminded her of Innocence

She turned away from the crazy idiot, trying to ignore the fact that it'd been less than an hour, and she'd already gotten into trouble. Instead, she started cleaning up the mess, changing back a transfiguration on her arm that had given her sturdy, but inflexible, scales, removing a jinx that made her legs wobbly, and a deadweight charm on her off-hand. She also tried to clean up some of the destroyed bedding. Somewhere in their duel, if you could call it that, something had blasted her pillow apart, and Charlie was sitting in his cage loudly complaining about possible avian rivals.

"Where'd you learn to duel like that? I thought I was the best around!" Maria asked, pouting while upside down, her arm reaching towards the ground, trying to pick up her fallen wand.

"You call that duelling?" she asked. If Shirtliffe had seen the way the girl flung spells she'd have a heart-attack, it was closer to Hexem than anything Alexandra had experienced before. If this was how all South-American wizards fought, then the duelling club probably wasn't any good.

The girl just looked annoyed, swinging on her legs to try and get free, the elaborately enchanted skirts somehow staying around her legs while also dropping down.

"_Finite Incantatum_" Alex said, flicking her wand at the girl's legs, which released themselves from the roof, and crashed her down on the floor in an inelegant drop. Alexandra ignored further complaints, trying to somehow figure out where all her stuff had gone. It didn't help that, as she'd arrived, their room had been a complete mess, with clothes, books and a dozen other magical knicknacks, such as _self-knitting knitting needles,_ a music books that floated through the air, and a stack of small glowing stones that looked like they belonged in a museum

"Alexandra, by the way," she said after a couple of minutes, having scourgified most of her side of the room. There was a bed, a night-stand, a large enchanted closet, and a large desk near a window that looked out over the town in the distance. There was a shared bathroom that she'd investigated, remembering how Archie had teased her with the strange toilets you found in different countries. Things were pretty normal, including both a large bath-tub and a shower, and there was nothing else there to be worried about. "And that's Charlie."

"Cool crow," Maria said, having freed herself from most of the spells Alex had thrown her way. She just ignored her, putting her books in place on the little bookshelf above her bed. "He's a Raven, not a Crow."

Maria looked at her, raising an eyebrow, which annoyed Alex even more. A witch ought to know the difference, and if not, Charlie would be quick to remind her.

"Ah, you've got one of those," Maria noted, pointing at the amulet around Alex's neck, which was translating everything for her. "Makes sense that you're speaking nonsense."

Of course, the amulet, Alexandra thought. "Charlie, do you want some treats?" she asked, looking at the bewildered bird, which recognized only its own name. That would be a problem, unless she was able to somehow get the enchantment working on him too, or figure out a way to teach him Spanish.

After a few more terse minutes of cleaning and putting stuff away, Alexandra sat down on her bed, tired and annoyed, only to find her new roommate still staring at her intently, while searching through a thick book.

"What? You want to go at it for another round?" she asked.

"Always," Maria replied, her eyes flicking between her book and Alexandra. "But let's actually go to the duelling ground when we have our rematch." Alexandra tried to spot the book's title, and found that, though she didn't immediately recognize the words, speaking them in her mind helped her translate their meaning into English. "_Governments of the Magical World," _it was labelled, a book title she recognized from the list of books to be brought to the classes on her schedule. She didn't have it yet, given that she'd been shipped her before being able to do any shopping, so she'd have to get her hands on it, and possibly get away from this crazy girl.

"Where's the library here?" Alexandra asked as she moved to open the window for Charlie. It would be a good opportunity to get out of here, away from her strange new roommate.

"Third building from this one if you move clockwise past the pyramid," the girl replied with large eyes and strange smile she seemed to be trying to hide.

Alexandra waited for Charlie to fly out of the window, then closed it again, and made her way outside. She'd need to get her hands on the supplies she needed, but she wasn't going to rely on this Maria girl for everything she didn't understand.

The campus, as it was, of Bolivar academy was a bit more complicated than it'd looked from on high. The central pyramid was surrounded mostly by grass and some other foliage, but she could now see that there were large height differences as well, with buildings and pathways on different levels. Some of the walls were smooth rock cliffs, while others looked like really old stone masonry. More interesting was the ley lines she could see carving their way through these brick walls, the ancient wizards that had once built this place most certainly knew what they were doing, as the Confederation had when they placed Charmbridge where it stood.

Luckily, Charlie's presence made navigation much easier, a bird's eye view allowing her to pick the paths that actually went somewhere, because half of them ended at small nature areas with benches and tables in them.

Walking around did give her some insight into this place, and the ways it differed from the wizarding world she knew. First, it didn't seem like people recognized her, at least not to the extent that they did back at Charmbridge. Sure, she got a few looks, but none of the staring and jinxing that sometimes happened back in the Confederation. More importantly, there were quite a few older students here, much older, which probably had something to do with the continued education programmes she'd read about. Annoyingly, they didn't have to wear uniforms, while all of the kids of Alexandra's age were dutifully wearing theirs. The boys uniform, while different, at least followed the same colour scheme, though their hat was a bit larger, looking either impressive or ridiculous depending on the wearer.

She also spotted quite a few people she thought must be the teachers, even one she recognized from the folder. Apparently, the academy had been quite proud to have acquired William Stefan Betzig for its faculty, a wizard who had won some sort of big-time award for the detection of really small bits of magic. According to the folder, the man was doing research, teaching professional magical researchers, and even giving an elective for students fifth year and up. Going by the way he looked, Alexandra didn't think he was very impressive, at least not compared to her father.

The library was easy to recognize, looking a lot like the stately buildings in Washington, with what looked like marble pillars and a large set of stairs leading up to them, aping the Roman style. She walked up the stairs, joining the small trickle of people entering the building. There was a big central hall, filled with several large tables at which people were working, some reading from several floating books at once, others working with large repositories of scrolls, or large old typewriters connected to a stack of scrollwork. From there, she could see several wings of the building, each labelled with signs that took her a minute to translate. There were areas for the sciences and the arts, as well as one boasting clay tablets and other ancient artefacts, though she had no idea where to look for copies of the books she'd be using in class.

Luckily, there was a service desk, so she went looking for this place's equivalent of Miss Minder, or perhaps Bran and Poe. Several people were manning it, or rather, Goblining it, for Alexandra soon saw that three angry-looking goblins were sitting behind the desk, pointing angrily at people who came to them with books and requests.

"Don't worry, they don't eat people, well, they don't eat students at least," an older girl, young woman really, given that she wasn't wearing a uniform, said.

"I know that," Alexandra said. "I've seen Goblins before, just, usually at banks."

"Anglo then," the woman said with a smile, the words sounding strange to Alexandra. She had dark blonde hair, held back in an elegant bun with a braid in it, and was wearing a robe over a set of muggle clothes. "Don't worry, I was new her once too, you'll catch up in a jiffy, just make sure not to imply that all Goblins are bankers, they don't like that here."

Alexandra looked at the woman, trying to figure out what bothered her so much about the way the woman was talking to her, when she realized she'd been talking in English.

That was to say, in actual English, rather than Spanish that was magically translated. "You're speaking in English," she noted.

"And Spanish is coming out of your mouth," the woman replied, having switched back to Spanish, giving the conversation a strange, floaty feeling. "First time in the library here?"

Alexandra nodded. "I don't have the books I need for class yet, and was wondering if I could find them here."

"Late arrival?" the woman asked. "You'll get your books from your teacher, free of charge. At least that's what everyone tells me."

"So can I find any copies here?" Alexandra asked, not wanting to wait until she had the class in question to figure out what Maria had been so interested in.

"Sure, I can take a minute to show you around," she said. "Anything's better than getting your head around QM."

Hannah Blum was, it turned out, a student from Germany, or rather, one of the many magical principalities that were sort of unified amongst the lines of the current German state, though things were, as she said before she stopped trying to explain it, relatively complicated. She was here to study artificing techniques, claiming that Colombian techniques were at the cutting edge of magical development. Alexandra didn't know about that, but she appreciated a quick heads-up to how things were done at the academy, and spend far more time chatting with the young woman than she actually did reading the books she'd gathered.

Most interesting had been the description of the explorer's club, one of many different after school activities, and one that was open to students of all ages. A bit like the witch-rangers had been back home, but far more hardcore. For example, they went on expeditions into the unexplored wilds of South America, some taking up to an entire week. Last year, they'd found the ruins of what could potentially be another lost city, and Hannah said that this year's christmas expedition would probably go there to further explore. Interesting, and people who actually went out on expeditions like that could probably teach Alexandra some things if she wanted to, say, start exploring the World Away.

Best of all, Hannah hadn't asked Alexandra too many questions, which suited her just fine, given that she didn't want to explain all about how her father was a wanted criminal, and she'd gotten kicked out of her previous school because of a mishap with a magical assassin. Instead, she just listened as the woman talked about the different stores in town, what the places to be were, and which Wrock bands played when and where. Alexandra kind of got the feeling that Hannah didn't have a lot of friends her own age, but decided to ignore it, because at least she wasn't being treated like a baby.

Over an hour of chatting later, she had finally escaped Blum's clutches, and acquired the book she'd seen Maria checking. _Governments of the Magical World_ was an engaging textbook, with a lot of different graphs, charts, maps and infographics in it, enchanted to move at command. As she paged through it, she wondered why not all wizarding books were like this. She knew that it took some effort to create wizarding pictures, but knew from newspapers that they could be duplicated en masse as well. Some of the books back at Charmbridge allowed you to consult a portrait of the author, and the dark tome she'd gotten from Darla had contained within it some rather harrowing enchantments, but those had usually been just a few pages.

Going through the book, she eventually found the section on the Confederation, which included an interactive map of all the territories, an overview of its history, a succession tree showing the different Governor-Generals, an explanation of the system of Cultures and territories, and subsections on repression and revolutions.

Most of it she was already familiar with, though it was interesting to get an outsider perspective on the world she'd lived in for four years. There was a lot of critique though, and it wasn't just the things she knew were fishy, like the registration of people's blood status, but also things she'd considered to be perfectly normal, like how some kids went to day schools instead of boarding schools. The part on repression was the most intriguing, and it drew a direct line between things like the WHODAMND act and earlier limits on what the Confederation called Dark Magic, as well as talking about how some types of books were more strictly controlled. It was a bit silly, because the tome claimed that requiring completion of Senior S.P.A.W.N. tests was an undue burden for access to certain books and such, while Alex knew that every single Charmbridge student would qualify for that.

The final section, well, a few glances showed her that she would have loved to have this book back in sixth grade. Mostly because it actually gave a general overview of the who what and why of Abraham Thorn, her father, as well as the Dark Convention. Some of the facts were listed, as well as some speculation, and a side-block on current events which seemed to be about a year out of date. Most interesting however, was a set of short biographies on current players in Confederation politics, in which she spotted Anna's father, and a short explanation of the events surrounding his election, and the treatment of his wife and daughter during his imprisonment. It was a bit sparse on details, and the books seemed to use it as an example of government repression backfiring during the election year through someone working within the legal bounds of the system, to be contrasted with her own father's methods.

Scanning further, she also noticed something that was conspicuously missing, something that she knew, but the authors of the book obviously didn't. It was clear that, though a lot of its dirty secrets had been made public—at least to people outside of the country—the Deathly Regiment and its connection to the Lands Below were still a complete secret to everyone outside of the inner circle.

All in all, the book was incredibly interesting, and it was currently of absolutely no use to her. Incredibly dense, without knowing a specific page number she'd never know what had gotten her strange new roommate so distracted.


	4. The New Girl

"No fucking way," Rosa whispered, though liberal application of silencing charms meant it wasn't really necessary. The five of them were sitting in their usual hideout, in the corner of the fifth grade common room, gathered around a long-forgotten board game. Over the years, their class schedules had shifted, and a few girls had shifted in and out of the group, but the only thing that had changed about their group was the floor on which their little corner was located. Other students knew to keep out.

"Yes fucking way," Maria replied in the same conspiratorial whisper. "Girl freaked out and started attacking me for like no reason at all!"

"And I am absolutely certain your behavior was absolutely reasonable," Rhianxa interjected. She was from an older wizarding family, and very much an enemy to the chaos that was normal high-school life, Maria thought. Even her straight black hair was all exactly the same length, the only thing keeping it out of her face two silver pins emblazoned with her family's emblem.

"She was in my room!" Maria replied, now almost shouting.

"Like the dean told you she'd be?" Rhianxa continued, wearing another one of her trademark '_blahblah you're being completely unreasonable here'_ expressions.

"So, to summarize, the dean assigned you a new roommate, and it took you about five minutes to chase her out," Alicia said.

"Hey, she's the one that won the duel," Maria replied, she hated to admit it, but it was true. Mostly. She could have won, easily, but it wasn't fair to go all out on the new girl, and besides, lunch hadn't been good to her stomach, and she'd had to be careful not to hit the bird, so really, all things considered, it had been more of a tie. Next time, she'd win easily.

"Well yes, she's a confederate isn't she?" Rhianxa said, implying it explained everything. Which it didn't, because this was just some white chick, and she was Maria.

"Yes, I heard they put their children in military training starting when they're eleven," Fortuna, the most outspoken member of their little group, said.

"Wait, our new classmate's some sort of crazy child soldier?" Rosa asked.

"Nah, that's all just nonsense," Maria said. "I checked it in the book. Even up there, there's only a few schools where army stuff is part of the normal curriculum."

"Yeah, the ones that aren't completely underfunded," Alicia said. "Like half of them go to day schools or something like that, right?"

"What's wrong with a Day School?" Rhianxa asked, offended.

"Nothing, when you're eight," Maria replied. "But the book says they've got them for teenagers too."

"For teenagers?" Rhianxa asked again. "That's ridiculous, how are they even supposed to learn any magic?"

"They're not, because it's an oppressive totalitarian regime that demands a revolution of the people," Maria said, filled with confidence. This part she knew. In fact, she'd written an entire assignment about it. "Which is why there's the whole active revolution going on."

"So what, you think she's some sort of refugee then? Running away from revolutionaries?" Rosa asked

"Or from the regime," Maria replied.

"If she beat you in a duel, maybe she was one of their child soldiers?" Fortuna asked from behind a stack of books and several drinks.

"Or one of the revolutionaries? Like an American Harry Potter? That'd be cool," Alicia suggested.

"Oh please, Potter's overrated, dude fights a fashy government and leads the revolution, then goes right on to join the cops!" Maria interjected.

"Really more of a counterrevolution," Rhianxa said. "And we all know that the second British Civil War was far less about ideology than the first one was."

"I'd say both were more about the cult of personality," Alicia said. "I mean, they called themselves Death Eaters right? You don't do that when you think you're in the right."

"The Confederate ones are called the Dark Convention," Maria said. "It's all about how you look, intimidating the innocent from getting in your way."

"Yeah, because T'Rids cared about the innocent," Rosa said, too afraid even now to say the man's real name, even though he'd been dead for years and also on the other side of the planet.

"Well, no, but that doesn't mean all names that are too evil to be taken seriously should be taken serious," Maria defended her statement, she wasn't going to lose this discussion.

"Can we get back on topic? We were talking about how your new roommate's either a ruthless child soldier, or has the equivalent of a ten year old's education," Rosa said.

"Well, definitely a fricking child soldier," Maria said, nursing one of her buttcheeks, where miss Alexandra had hit her with a nasty stinging jinx.

"Could you please try to watch your language for a single sentence?" Fortuna, the fifth and obviously loudest member of their little group mumbled.

"Why? We've got Muffliatos all over this place!" Rosa said.

"Because maybe teachers aren't the only people bothered by it?" Alicia asked as Rosa folded her arms in response, keeping silent.

"Back on topic, she's probably just scared and hiding in the library," Fortuna said. "It's what I'd do."

"What, she whoops me in a duel so she runs away? That makes zero sense," Maria replied.

"She's in a new country at a place where she doesn't know anyone, and she got into a fight a few minutes after arriving. She's probably just waiting to get the message that she's getting expelled on her first day," Alicia said.

"For one teensy little duel? Be reasonable!" Maria said.

"Some people, reasonable people, would say a fight is serious the moment wands are drawn," Fortuna said.

Maria sneered, but decided not to bring up the fact that Fortuna's inability to stand up for herself was why so many people were giving her a hard time. You didn't need to be good for people to respect you—though it helped—you just needed to show them you would defend yourself and your friends. Especially if those friends couldn't, or wouldn't, defend themselves.

"Anyway, you should probably apologize to her once she returns," Alicia said.

"Why? She's the one that whoopered me!" she replied.

"Maria please… You know why," Alicia groaned.

"So what, I should go up to her and say 'Sorry for losing please don't use your training as a child supersoldier against me?'"

"Of course not! Hell, don't mention the soldier thing at all!" Alicia said. "Just like, pretend she's normal and you're sorry for being such a bitch on her first day."

"I don't think she's a soldier, or was a soldier," Rosa said. "I mean, why would she go here? And why would the Dean allow her in? And she can't have gone rogue, because American high-schoolers have to swear an allegiance oath."

"Bullshit," Maria said, which was quickly matched by a "language" from Fortuna. "Kids don't swear oaths!"

"Well, not here," Rhianxa said. "But in the confederacy?"

"A good cursebreaker could handle that, right?" Alicia asked. "If it's an oath by a kid?"

"Probably" Rosa said, "But I heard they have to swear it every morning. Even the muggles."

"That's effed up," Maria said. Seriously? Magically binding loyalty oaths each day? No wonder this Alexandra had wanted to move to a normal country. Now she felt bad about duelling her. Even though it had been her fault, and not Maria's.

"As is your language," Fortuna whispered. "Why do you keep talking like a, well, you know."

Maria could see the other girls react. Rhianxa staring at the ground, Alicia giving F an angry look, Rosa pointedly ignoring the remark.

"Right, so this new guy you spend the summer with, what is he like?" Rhianxa asked after a few moments of awkward silence, unsubtly changing the subject.

"Weird," Maria said. "But I guess he's pretty normal for a muggle. My sis likes him, so he's okay in my book. He even helped me out with the spidernet."

"Spidernet? Sounds dangerous," Rhianxa said.

"It is," Maria said, filled with confidence. "Apparently if you talk to the wrong people there you get kidnapped. And people constantly lie to you! For no reason at all!"

Rhianxa, Fortuna and Alicia looked properly intimidated and outraged, so Maria went on.

"And they use it to spy on everyone! There's this one place, where you can just fly around the world. Only you're not actually flying, it's just pictures from everywhere that you're looking at! What's worse, I heard some Muggle places on the Spidernet are so foul-mouthed, they make Rosa sound like Forty. There's different languages too, but they have something like a translation charm you can use, but it's horrible and tells you nonsense sometimes, so I had to double-check stuff with Matias, whose really good at languages."

"What's he do for a living, this guy?" Rosa asked.

"He's a science doctor, which means he does all kinds of weird tricks that Muggles use to make more of their tools and stuff. And he works with dangerous diseases!" Maria said, quickly explaining that no, that didn't mean he made people sick on purpose. Why, exactly, her sister's new boyfriend did work with diseases, she couldn't quite explain. It had made a lot of sense when he'd explained it, but she'd been busy fighting a big lizard so that a muggle guy could date a witch princess at the time, which had taken most of her attention.

"So, is he cute? Worthy of your sister?" Alicia asked.

"I guess, sis says he's got eggs in his head, but it's a good thing? And they're quite well off together, which is nice. Sis says they might be going for a kid soon, but I think mom and dad will murder him if he doesn't marry her first."

"Already?" Rhianxa asked. "Didn't they just meet last year?"

"Well… maybe sis kind of sort of forgot to inform us about him, and him about us, for a few years?" Maria said, scratching the back of her head.

Her sister, Luciana, had in fact gotten some very angry words hurled at her when she'd revealed Matias's existence, and the exact specifics of who he was. Lucy, always more comfortable in the Muggle world than in the wizarding one, had been expected to find a nice young wizard who could take care of her. So, of course, she'd done anything but that, and when she'd met a boy she'd liked, she decided to keep everyone else in the dark.

Maria could, when she'd thought about it for a bit, understand that. Their parents were… overbearing was not the right word, but certain expectations were placed upon their children, and their disappointment when those expectations were not met was very clear. Even for Luciana, with her obvious disadvantages. Not telling them had obviously been the right move, but it kind of hurt that she hadn't been told either. She wouldn't be disappointed that the new guy was a Muggle, she actually liked Matias, much more than the Venezuelan pureblood wizard their parents had introduced to Luciana. It hadn't been fair, which was why she'd been invited to stay over at their place for a few weeks.

"How'd he take it?" Alicia asked. "I can't imagine what it would be like to just be introduced to magic all of a sudden."

"Or to live your life without it," Rhianxa added. Fortuna nodded, while Rosa just folded her arms.

"I think pretty well?" Maria said. Matias had been amazing, best brother-in-law you could ask for. "We talked about it a ton, though he was disappointed I couldn't actually show him any spells. I think he was a bit angry at my sis for a while, but I'm far too nice of a sister-in-law to have him be annoyed when I was there."

Her new roommate forgotten, Maria continued her story, regaling her friends with stories of Inferi trapped in a moving picture, how people could be a doctor working on a disease but not actually be a doctor, and having to actually clean up after yourself without magic.

Having inspected the library, but not quite found what she'd been looking for, Alexandra returned to the dorms under a darkening sky. Magical lights floated around the campus grounds, keeping the paths well-lit, and the town on the other side of the valley shone in a hundred different colors. Charlie enjoyed it, flying from floating lantern to floating lantern, cawing when he thought she was being slow.

The entrance hall of the dorms had a large staircase, that got narrower as it went up,splitting off at each of the six higher levels. From there, there was a balcony going around the central hall, separate wings for women and men, and a collective rec room. Leaning on the balcony of the fifth graders floor was a girl with ridiculously long black curls, who seemed to be watching Alexandra intently. She tried to return the favor, which seemed to scare the girl a little, but Alexandra couldn't figure out more than that the girl was wearing most of her uniform, having taken off the poncho/jacket and hat.

Tired enough to not be in the mood for mindgames, she decided to ignore her new classmate, instead going for the showers.

The girl, however, disagreed, and gave a quick wave as Alexandra approached, leaning away from the balcony's railing.

"What, you're not going to attack me?" Alexandra asked, still bitter.

"I look like a crazy pureblood with more jinxes than sense to you?" the girl replied, holding one of her feet up in front of her. Alexandra just gave her a raised eyebrow.

"The shoes," the other girl noted, and Alexandra looked down again to see a comfortable, well-worn sneaker on the girl's foot.

Alexandra stuck out a leg, turning her foot to spot her own shoes, generally hidden by the long dress that always seemed to just barely not hit the floor. Muggle work, far more comfortable than those generally worn by her wizarding compatriots, though they lacked self-cleaning charms. Also, just about the only piece of clothing that wasn't part of the uniform. Probably important, checking people's shoes here.

"So, you alright, after a run in with Valiente?" the girl asked.

"She doesn't scare me," Alexandra replied, meaning it more than she'd ever meant it while talking about Albo. Maria was good at casting spells in rapid succession, and that was about it.

"Good," the girl said with a smile, then held out a hand. "Rosa Santiago."

"Alexandra Quick," Alex replied, shaking the young woman's hand.

"You need a quick tour? Of the building?" the girl asked, and Alexandra obliged.

The dorm building had been pretty easy to understand, though Rosa had explained some of the nuances to Alexandra, while a lot of the people they walked past were looking their way, interested in the new student. Technically, the floors were assigned to a single grade level, but there were a few areas where interyear activities tended to take place, like on the second floor, where Muggleborn students at the academy had a little corner of the rec room cleared off to rant about the ridiculousness of wizarding culture, and help out young children in the situation that Alexandra had been in, knowing just about nothing about the wizarding world. Now, they were standing on the open roof, leaning against a fragile looking, but magically reinforced, railing.

From here, Rosa pointed out the cafeteria, a few buildings down, named a few of their fellow students, and told her where best to observe the Quidditch, Quodpot and Football teams. Football meaning soccer here. She was a bit astonished at the popularity of a Muggle sport, though Rosa insisted that a lot of the world's best players were rumoured to be Muggleborn wizards. When Alexandra asked why that wouldn't count as cheating, she didn't get a straight answer, with some sort of hidden presumption that the answer was obvious.

"-which is allegedly why we always have clouds hanging over us," Rosa explained, leaning against the railing of the building's flat roof.

"So the sun never shines here? Ever?" Alexandra asked.

"It gets quite bright during the day, and sometimes we have rays pierce through, but basically yeah." the girl went on.

"Sounds depressing," Alexandra replied, looking up at the dark sky. Although it wasn't that dark, the different light sources from all over the valley bounced against the low-hanging clouds, covering everything in a soft blanket of colours.

"Is it very different from your old place?" Rosa asked.

"Charmbridge just had children and staff," Alexandra replied. "And was the only thing around for miles. The closest thing around was a Highway, and you only ever heard it in the distance if you were in the woods."

"Sounds claustrophobic," Rosa replied. "You never just went out, away from teachers and such?"

"Plenty of places to hide, and there weren't a lot of teachers around during the weekends. I'm not sure where they went."

"Well, you still get watched here, but there's not too much supervision," Rosa said. "Which means it's on the rest of us to keep an eye out on the younger kids, make sure there's no bullying and such. So… if Maria's being an idiot again."

Alexandra raised an eyebrow.

"Just trash her again," Rosa said. "Trust me, she means well, but she's not exactly one for thinking through the consequences of her actions. I guess she must've thought that starting a duel was far more interesting than just saying hello, and here we are. She's kind of troublesome like that."

Alexandra stared, her attention caught by the last sentence. It must have been an accident, right? And the word probably didn't have a one to one Spanish translation, but…

"Everything alright?" Rosa asked, and Alexandra quickly nodded. This was a new start of sorts, no need to get her old nickName involved.

"Yeah, just… something back home," Alexandra replied as she spotted Charlie, swooping in for a visit. Things here wouldn't be too bad, probably.


End file.
